John Stamos Spin-off Group California Sound to Replace Beach Boys at Epcot Gig Amid Mike Love’s Health Issues
John Stamos and Mike Love at the premiere of Disney+'s "The Beach Boys" held at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on May 21, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Gilbert Flores/Variety
As Beach Boys singer Mike Love continues to struggle with “serious health challenges,” the endless summer band’s longtime friend and live collaborator, actor John Stamos, is stepping up to help fill the gap. Earlier this month, Full House alum Stamos posted a lengthy note on Instagram before the band’s show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville announcing that his longtime friend Love, 85, was struggling with a grave, unspecified health issue.
Now, Stamos has tapped himself to sub in for the Beach Boys at a pair of upcoming shows at Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla. as part of the theme parks’ Eat to the Beat Concert series. An updated listing of the upcoming gigs now has a group called John Stamos and the California Sound booked for Nov. 11 and 12 in the slot formerly reserved for the Beach Boys.
At press time no additional information was available about who will perform in the band backing Stamos and a Beach Boys spokesperson had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment at press time.
Love has taken leave from touring after he raised concerns over his health following shows in Cincinnati and Nashville where the sole remaining original member of the “Surfin’ Safari” band appeared frail while performing from a chair.
“Mike is a fighter,” Stamos wrote in his note before the Ryman show. “Despite doctors, family and friends urging him to focus on his health, he insists on being on stage. He says he needs his band, the audience, his friends and drummer surrounding him to lift him up.” Stamos, who has occasionally played drums on tour with the Beach Boys for more than four decades as well as recording with them in the studio, did not give any further details about the nature of Love’s condition.
At press time the Beach Boys’ only other scheduled show this year, a Nov. 13 gig at the Hard Rock Live in Bristol, Va. still listed the group as the headliners. The only other show on the band’s roster for now is a May 8, 2027 stop at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alberta, Canada.
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